Friend of mine had one of those catastrophic failures with the plastic
radiator on his 1991 / 240. Car obviously overheated, and blew the head
gasket. It also warped the head, and destroyed the water pump, and hoses.
The temperature gauge never went above middle ?!
It cost a bundle to fix this car. Apparently they even fixed the warped head
by "heat treating" it. I thought warped heads were not repairable.
Can someone clarify this for me.
Thanks in advance.

My 84 240 had the half plastic, half steel and all bad radiator. The fins were collapsing and rust was clogging it up and it leaked. By luck I had an 81 240 all metal with copper/aluminum fins. I cleaned it out and it works great. The car even runs cooler. I think 78-81's use these radiators. They seem to be better built.
Ben

Plastic radiator began to leak in my wifes 240 last year. Just a small seap and was concealed for some time. About the same time I noted antifreeze staining and crusting around the head gasket above the number one spark plug. Suspecting
a bad head gasket, I removed the head and had it trued (it wasn't out of tolerance very much). When removing the radiator I noted the seaping seams on the sides. Don't know if these were related, or not. Got a all metal three core radiator and installed it after the shaved head was installed. Used a new head bolts even though Bentley says the ones can be reused for several times, after all, for $60.00 it's pretty inexpensive insurance.

Haven't noted any problems a year later.

1993 245 110K, 1990 240 71k, 1989 245 148k

Tell us more about the role of the plastic radiator in this failure. Is the shop saying that the radiator *caused* the overheating even though the temp gauge never showed it?

In general, do the plastic radiators fail suddenly? If this is a real risk, I'd rather just replace mine now.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Doug Harvey

Yes this is a real risk. After 10 years, you're on borrowed time. Most of the time the temp gauge does not go into the red until it's too late. This is because the gauge measures the temp of the coolant, and in the case of catastrophic failure there is no coolant left. By the time the gauge reacts to the elevated temperature of the melting engine it's too late.

--
Matt L. -- Cary, NC -- '91 740 wagon

Check E-Bay. There is constantly a brand new 3 core radiator for volvos on there. Many of them are Buy-It-Now type of auctions.
--
'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwr and two motorcycles: it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me

Failure of the original radiators at ~150K is very common. The plastic tanks have a tendency to break off the molded hose connections or hose barbs, whatever you choose to call them.
Commonly happens after someone replaces the old, stuck, original radiator hoses. Sometimes just tightening the clamps causes the connection to break off.
If you've got a nigh mileage 240 or 740 with the original radiator, do yourself a favor and put in a nice all-brass Nissens or equivalent. Do it on YOUR terms, not after it's blown.
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: 86 244DL, 87 244DL, 88 744GLE